Daily Journey - May 5

May 5

“Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way”—I Samuel xii. 23

Intercessory prayer is a benefit to the man who exercises it, and is often a better channel of comfort than any other means of grace. The Lord turned again the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. Even where such prayer does not avail for its precise object it has its results. David tells us that he prayed for his enemies: he says, in Psalm xxxv. 13, “As for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting.” And he adds, “my prayer returned into mine own bosom.” He sent forth his intercession like Noah’s dove, but as it found no rest for the sole of its foot, and no blessing came of it, it returned to him who sent it, and brought back with it an olive-leaf plucked off, a sense of peace to his own spirit; for nothing is more restful to the heart than to have prayed for those who despitefully use us and persecute us. Prayers for others are pleasing to God and profitable to ourselves; they are no waste of breath, but have a result guaranteed by the faithful Promiser.